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| Is Germanwings legally liable in the investigation of the Flight 9525 crash? Image: Nicholas Economou / Shutterstock.com |
The horrific events leading to the investigation of the
Germanwings Flight 9525 disaster are difficult to think about, but they do
bring up an interesting legal question:
How much, if at all, is Germanwings liable?
From the evidence currently gathered, it appears that the
airplane’s co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was responsible for the crash, locking the
captain out of the cockpit and deliberately causing the plane to crash into the
French Alps, killing everyone aboard.
In previous such legal cases, the court has needed to
determine just how responsible the airline was in terms of identifying the
pilot as not mentally fit, especially in this case, with Lubitz having reported
mental health issues in the past.
According to US law, liability in a domestic flight is
determined by domestic law. This means
the plaintiffs would have to prove the airline was negligent. However, the Germanwings crash was an
international incident, so the law will differ.
The families’ rights are determined by the Montreal Convention, a
treaty created in 2003, which provides legal protections to airlines doing
international work, as well as providing rights to passengers’ families after
an “accident.” In this case, an
“accident” is defined by the US Supreme Court as an “unexpected or unusual
event or happening that is external to the passenger,” which would make the
airline liable. Based on previous cases,
Germanwings would be responsible for compensatory damages up to $156,919 per
victim.
However, Germanwings could limit its liability by proving it
wasn’t negligent or otherwise at fault.
It could, for example, claim that it isn’t responsible for the
co-pilot’s actions because they had already screened Lubitz according to legal
requirements regarding mental health.
The families, on the other hand, could argue that the
airline was responsible for hiring, training, and placing a reportedly unstable
pilot in a cockpit. They could also
maintain that the captain should not have left the co-pilot alone in the
cockpit—a rule that many other airlines follow.
Currently, Germanwings has offered an advance of about
$54,000 to each victim’s family, and its insurers have set aside $300 million
to cover potential liabilities.
A further discussion of the legalities involved in the
situation can be found here.
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